On Mar 22, 11:27*am, "
wrote:
On Mar 18, 11:30*am, "





wrote:
On Mar 16, 5:30*pm, Tudor Hughes wrote:

On Mar 16, 4:15*pm, "

wrote:
On Mar 15, 11:58*pm, "jbm" wrote:

" *wrote in message

...

The Cambridgeshire Water spokesman on TV said Grafham Water was
currently at 96% capacity. Not bad for mid-March.

Drought? What drought?

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Grafham Water is topped up by pipeline from the River Great Ouse, which
currently has no extraction restrictions on it.

Anglian Water have stated that Pitsford Water (serves Northampton) is under
60% capacity. It is currently being topped up (limited amount) from the
River Nene, which is restricted by the drought order in the area. This top
up is expected to be stopped by the end of April, when the current
extraction order runs out. It is very unlikely to be renewed because of
environmental considerations. Hose pipe bans for domestic customers in the
Anglian Water region were announced the other day, coming into effect on 5th
April 2012. At the moment, commercial concerns (including sports clubs, golf
courses, car washes and the like) are not affected. It remains to be seen
how long that will last.

Drought? THAT drought!

jim, Northampton

You consider a 60% full reservoir to be a drought?

A public hosepipe ban to be a drought?

Dear me, the idiots really are running the asylum. Public hosepipe use
should be banned all year round anyway, because most are only used to
water grass and flower beds, and compulsory home metering would put
paid to that anyway.

Maybe you should pay a visit to Somalia. Then you might understand
what drought conditions look like.

Drought? WHAT drought?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

* * * * *I fully agree that metering should be compulsory as it is
with gas and electricity. *Water may well fall out of the sky but it
needs to be collected, stored, sometimes purified and then pumped.
All this involves an infrastructure that needs continuous servicing.
* * * * *One of these days I will get round to having a meter fitted.
As a light user I would gain considerably but if I lay water out to
dry in the garden and other indulgences I would pay a lot more. *Can't
see much wrong with that.
* * * * *If this is a drought then I'm from Cherrapunji.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

You certainly would benefit from a meter if you are a light user.

My water + sewerage bill last year would have been £650, but the shock
of that finally tipped me over the edge and I filled in the form for
meter installation.

The yearly bill was cancelled and the meter fitted within 4 weeks, and
from that point I was billed in arrears over 6 monthly periods.

I am keeping a careful eye on my meter readings, because leaks within
my property boundary can become very expensive, and I predict that my
yearly bill will be no more than £275 - a saving of £375 in 12 months.

As for problems of shrinkage in the Fens causing road and rail
foundations to collapse, that is a potential problem which has been
brewing for decades. One only has to drive along fen roads in some
areas to see how modern farming methods have resulted in the field
levels falling to 15 or 20 feet below road and rail heights.

No one does anything about it until the obvious happens, and the
farming lobby is so powerful that maximise revenues is all they will
ever entertain as a policy.

Most people have seen that pole at Woodwalton which was once level
with the top of the soil and is now well above human height, but this
is the British way - do nothing for years and collect the profits,
then bleat like crazy when all the abuse of previous decades begins to
catch up.

Sorry, I am ranting now.

But when governments plan vast new housing developments with en-suite
bathrooms in every house, they seem only interested in placating large
house construction company lobbyists, not worrying about how the
demand for extra water is going to be satisfied. There are rivers in
Wiltshire that have become dry over their upper reaches simply because
of the rapid expansion of Swindon, but no one seemed to give that any
thought at the planning stage, or if they did they were certainly not
going to spend any money on it.

Presumably the same could be said for Peterborough, Northampton and
Milton Keynes in the past.

I will stop now, and spare you all any more of this.

For those who are interested in switching to metered water, I have
just had my March bill and have used 29 cubic metres of water in the
past 6 months.

I pay 116p per cubic metre for the water plus £17 standing charge, and
168p per m3 for it to be returned to the sewers (less 5% of
consumption which is deemed to not be returned) and another standing
charge for that of £21.

All in all my 6 months charge comes to just under £118, compared to at
least £325 (2011 figure, so is likely to be more this year) for 6
months based on rateable value - unmetered.

Anything that saves me £207 over 6 months is worth having.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for that info - it makes me even more determined to
install a meter, and so should everyone. Presumably there is a one-
off charge for the installation of a meter. My savings will be less
than yours but anything is worth having especially since my pension
will be worth slightly less, thanks to That Lot. *******s!

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.